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Northern Ireland Assembly NORTHERN IRELAND Mr Speaker: I thank the Member for her point of order. I not only encourage Whips, but all Members, to ASSEMBLY visit the Business Office to see the procedure for selection of questions to the House. I hope that more Members will do so and will, therefore, have a better understanding of how questions to Ministers are selected. Tuesday 30 September 2008 The Assembly met at 10.30 am (Mr Speaker in the Chair). Members observed two minutes’ silence. ASSEMBLY BUSINESS Mr Lunn: On a point of order, Mr Speaker. Before the start of Question Time last Monday, Basil McCrea made a point of order about the selection of questions for Question Time. Correctly, you said that that issue was not the business of the Speaker’s Office. In his comments, Mr Basil McCrea queried the integrity of Assembly staff. He said: “We have been assured that the selection of questions is a random process. Clearly, it cannot be”. — [Official Report, Vol 33, No 3, p108, col 2]. He also said: “four, five or six of the first six questions are regularly asked by the party to which the responding Minister belongs. There is something not right. I am not saying that something is wrong, but something is not right.” — [Official Report, Vol 33, No 3, p108, col 2]. Assembly staff will be concerned about those comments. Did Mr Basil McCrea breach any of the rules of the House when he made those comments? Would it be appropriate to give him the opportunity in the House to retract his comments? If he was not accusing Assembly staff, who was he accusing? Mr Speaker: I accept the Member’s comments, and there are several issues to address. First, Mr Basil McCrea has already visited the Business Office and looked at the procedure that is used for selecting questions for Question Time. Secondly, I have examined his comments in the Hansard report, and Mr Basil McCrea has not broken any rules. However, I remind all Members to be careful about the language that they use in the House and not to identify officials from the Assembly or elsewhere. I repeat that the Speaker’s Office has no hand whatsoever in the random ballot for the selection of questions to the House. Ms Ní Chuilín: Further to that point of order, Mr Speaker. I assume that the Business Office’s invitation to Whips to witness the selection process for questions, which was open to every party, still stands. 233 Tuesday 30 September 2008 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE BUSINESS During the passage of the Mesothelioma, etc., Bill, it was estimated that the average payment under the Pneumoconiosis, etc., Regulations 2008 scheme to sufferers, many of whom do not currently qualify for any compensation payments, would be in the region of £6,000. The introduction of a compensation- The Minister for Social Development (Ms recovery process will meet the cost of the scheme. Ritchie): I beg to move All mesothelioma and 1979-scheme payments are to That the Pneumoconiosis, etc., (Workers’ Compensation) (Payment of Claims) (Amendment No. 2) Regulations (Northern be recovered from subsequent successful civil- Ireland) 2008, be affirmed. compensation claims. Any moneys recovered will be ploughed back into the scheme, with the aim of The regulations are made under the Pneumoconiosis, funding higher payments in future. The scheme’s etc., (Workers’ Compensation) (Northern Ireland) payment levels are set so that the overall expenditure Order 1979, which provides lump-sum compensation matches the recoveries from civil compensation. payments to be made to sufferers of certain dust- related diseases or to the dependants of sufferers. My Department has worked closely with the Department for Work and Pensions to secure a pooling The diseases that are covered by the Order can take of funds. People in Northern Ireland will receive the a long time to develop and may not be diagnosed until same rate of payment as people in Great Britain, even 20 or 40 years, or even longer, after exposure. By that though we are unable to recover sufficient money here time, the employer who is responsible may no longer to fund that higher rate. I am pleased to advise the House be in business, and sufferers and their dependants can that sufferers in Northern Ireland will now receive, on experience great difficulty in obtaining civil com- average, a higher than originally estimated payment of pensation. The 1979 scheme was designed to assist £10,000. That is yet another example of the benefits of employees who had little realistic chance of pursuing the parity arrangements. It is important that the Assembly civil compensation through the courts because, for affirm this piece of compassionate legislation. example, the former employer had ceased doing business. The mesothelioma scheme is to be self-financing; Mesothelioma, which is a fatal disease that is caused therefore, the level of payments will be determined by by exposure to asbestos, is one of several diseases that what can be afforded out of the recoveries from civil are covered by the 1979 scheme. It is a particularly damages. The intention is that payments under the unpleasant disease for which there is no known cure; a scheme will be increased over time, up to the same person’s life expectancy from the time that the disease level as those payments made under the 1979 scheme, is diagnosed can be short. which currently average around £18,000. When that In Northern Ireland, mesothelioma causes up to 50 happens, a person with mesothelioma will receive the deaths each year. Although the 1979 scheme has been same amount, whether that is under the mesothelioma beneficial, it covers only employees who are in receipt scheme or the 1979 scheme. of industrial-injuries disablement benefit. Therefore, it The Mesothelioma, etc., Act (Northern Ireland) cannot assist self-employed workers or people who 2008 provides that a person is not entitled to a payment have contracted mesothelioma from contact with the under the mesothelioma scheme if he or she has work clothes of a relative who worked with asbestos. received a payment under the 1979 scheme. However, That is one reason why I brought the Mesothelioma, until payments under both schemes reach the same etc., Bill before the Assembly in May 2007. I was pleased levels, if a lump-sum payment has been made under by the support for the Bill from all sides of the House. the mesothelioma scheme, and it is subsequently From 1 October 2008, the Mesothelioma, etc., Act discovered that a higher payment under the 1979 (Northern Ireland) 2008 breaks the link to workplace scheme is appropriate, the regulations provide for a exposure to asbestos. The mesothelioma scheme provides balancing payment to be made. That ensures that no for a lump-sum payment to be made to sufferers of one who is entitled to a payment under the 1979 diffuse mesothelioma within a matter of weeks of scheme is worse off because he or she has already diagnosis. In effect, that means that sufferers of received a payment under the mesothelioma scheme. mesothelioma will be eligible for payment, whether The regulations will ensure that people will receive they are employees, self-employed or, indeed, have never cash in the remaining months of their lives, and they worked, provided that they have not already received a will remove sufferers’ concern for their dependants’ compensation payment from another source — for future. It is a compassionate piece of legislation. example, through a civil claim under the 1979 scheme. The Chairperson of the Committee for Social In line with the 1979 scheme, the amount of money that Development (Mr Simpson): The Committee considered is paid in a lump sum under the mesothelioma scheme is the Department’s proposal to make the Pneumoconiosis, based on the person’s age at diagnosis. Those diagnosed etc., (Workers’ Compensation) (Payment of Claims) with mesothelioma earlier in life will receive more. (Amendment No. 2) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 234 Executive Committee Business: Tuesday 30 September 2008 Pneumoconiosis, etc., Regulations 2008 2008 at its meeting on 26 June 2008 and considered humane and compassionate piece of legislation that I the statutory rule at its meeting on 11 September 2008. am sure all Members will support fully. As Members are aware, the Mesothelioma, etc., Act We want to provide some comfort to mesothelioma (Northern Ireland) 2008 introduced a new compensation scheme for the sufferers, or the dependants of sufferers, sufferers — and their families — during their last days. of certain serious dust-related diseases. I am pleased to hear the Minister announce that compensation will increase from the initial estimate of The Committee reviewed carefully the regulations £6,000 to £10,000. I hope that, in a few years’ time that provide compensation for the tragic sufferers of when the compensation scheme has grown, sufferers those life-threatening diseases. Members will agree will receive the promised £18,000. In some way, that that although no amount of money can compensate for will help sufferers and their families. the misery and suffering that conditions such as pneumoconiosis cause, the amounts payable must offer The Minister for Social Development: I am some assistance to sufferers and their dependants. pleased with the consensus of support for the regulations The regulations recognise that payments under the from across the Chamber. I thank Mr Simpson and the Mesothelioma, etc., Act (Northern Ireland) 2008 are Committee for Social Development for the positive appropriate and allow for the reduction of certain other way in which they have dealt with the regulations. In payments made under the Pneumoconiosis, etc., fact, all Members who spoke during the debate are (Workers’ Compensation) (Northern Ireland) Order 1979.
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